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Monday, 2 June 2014

A recce trek around Kathmandu Valley in December 2012

This is a rather belated trip report for a recce trek I did back in December 2012 around the Kathmandu Valley Rim in Nepal. Over the years I had visited the viewpoints of Dhulikhel, Nagarkot and Namo Buddha located on the hills around Kathmandu however this time the plan was link these places together on a six day walk.

I was interested in doing Kathmandu Valley trek as several of our
Sherpas guides had recommended this trail due to the variety of landscape, friendly villages and of course the Himalayan views. Also these areas are quiet with few trekkers as most people tend to leave quickly for the mountains and never get the opportunity to enjoy what is closer at hand in the
Kathmandu valley.

Photo: terraced fields, ochre farmhouses and Himalayan views

The idea was to walk around Kathmandu Valley while staying at high quality hotels in order to set up a new trek for The Mountain Company. I also wanted to incorporate into the itinerary visits to religious and cultural places including World Heritage site of Changu Narayan; the Newari towns of Bhaktapur and Panauti; Namo Buddha monastery and Kali temple above Dhulikhel. In this
blog I will discuss some of the highlights of this trek however if you are
interested in the detailed day by day itinerary I suggest you read our TripDossier for Luxury Kathmandu Valley trek.

I walked this trek in December as this
is one of the best months to do Kathmandu Valley trek with a high chance of clear mountain views. The weather is colder at night in December however
as we stay in hotels this is less of a
consideration especially as some of the hotels like Vajra Farmhouse in Nagarkot even have a cosy fire in the bedroom. Kathmandu Valley is a good choice for the winter months when
it will be getting very cold higher up in the other trekking regions like
Everest and Annapurna. Of course you can do this trek in Spring and Autumn although it would be best to avoid this trek from late May when the temperatures will be very hot and then over the summer months of July and August when it will be rainy during the monsoon.

Photo: near Nagarkot

An advantage of Kathmandu Valley Rim trek is the highest sleeping altitude is at
Lakuri Bhanjang with an altitude of only 2,000m. To put this into context Lakuri Bhanjang is 800m lower than the airstrip at Lukla which is the starting
point for the Everest Base Camp trek. Being lower in altitude means there is unlikely to be any issues with high altitude sickness and as mentioned above it will be less cold than other treks such as Everest Base Camp. The other advantage is there are no internal flights within this itinerary, an increasingly important consideration for many people these days given the poor safety record of the aviation sector in Nepal.

On the first day of the trek we left Kathmandu by car driving beyond Bhatkapur and was dropped off at Changu Narayan temple. This is a beautiful pagoda style temple is
dedicated to Lord Vishnu and is known as one of the oldest in Nepal. After a
visit to the temple and museum we started the trek up to the popular hill resort of Nagarkot. The trail follows a ridge south of the Tilkot Reserved
Forest with views down to Sankhu in north and
Bhaktapur to the south. After several hours we joined the road winding up to
Nagarkot and at this point you have the choice to walk off the road through fields or take
transport up to Nagarkot.

Photo: walking to Nagarkot

It is worth pointing out for our Luxury Kathmandu Valley Rim trek
we send a private car or minibus with driver to transport your luggage to the
next hotel on the itinerary. It is possible on most days of this trek to get picked up by the
vehicle at several places along the trail if you prefer not to walk the whole way to the hotel. Your guide will brief you each evening on the distances and
timings for the next day’s walk and also the options for vehicle pick-up along the way. This was
one of the reasons that Kathmandu Valley Rim trek is a good objective for families with
children or people with a lower fitness level.

In Nagarkot we stay at Vajra’s Nagarkot Farmhouse, the main
building with restaurant is a renovated old Newari house and the mountain views from here are superb from Mount Manaslu to distant Mount Everest in the east.

Photo: view from near Nagarkot

On the second day we followed the trail through
forest up to the main Nagarkot bazaar and beyond to the view tower. We were lucky
to have a cloudless day and as we walked along the path to Rohini Bhanjang we
could see the mountains of Gauri Shankar, Menlungtse, Everest, Numbur and
Karyolung far to the east. It is worth mentioning that Mount Everest is very distant from Nagarkot however through binoculars the familiar black summit is certainly
visible. At Vajra Farmhouse I purchased a poster “Profile of the Himalayas from
Nagarkot, Kakani and Pokhara”, I would recommend getting a copy too as this helps identify the names of the mountains visible from the main viewpoints of the Kathmandu valley.

Photo: farmhouse seen from Kathmandu Valley Rim trek

The walk from Nagarkot to Dhulikel is one of the longer days
on our Luxury Kathmandu Valley Rim trek itinerary and we arrived to Dhulikhel town late afternoon. Most groups will be picked up by the support vehicle in the
town for the short drive to Dwarikas’ Resort in Dhulikhel. This place is simply
superb and has so many wonderful touches as one would expect from Dwarikas. In
fact several of our private groups have requested to extend their trek to include two
nights at Dwarikas Resort rather than just one as included in our standard
itinerary. Dwarikas is expensive however if you have the budget then it would be well worth considering staying one of two extra nights at this property.

Photo: view from Dhulikhel

The third day is from Dhulikhel to Namo Buddha
where our groups stay at the wonderful Namo Buddha Resort. I have stayed at this property a number of times and it is one of my favourite places in the
Kathmandu valley. The accommodation is in private cottages in their beautiful grounds filled with lush vegetation and flowers. The resort is close to Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery located at the sacred pilgrimage site of Namo Buddha, if you like you can walk up in the afternoon to have a look around this monastery.

Photo: view from Namo Buddha Resort

Photo: private cottage at Namo Buddha Resort

Photo: monastery at Namo Buddha

On the fourth day is the walk to the lovely village of
Baltali and I remember when we arrived we met a group of woman in high spirits on their way to
a festival while singing and dancing. Baltali is a traditional village and is very scenic with large terraced fields and ochre painted houses, this area is known for growing
oranges and in December you will see the fruits ready for harvest. I was not
surprised when Baltali was recently included as one of Lonely Planet’s Top Five“World’s best multi-day treks…without high altitude”. We stayed at the Baltali Village Resort located on top of a hill overlooking the village.

Photo: festival in Baltali village

Photo: view from Baltali Village Resort

On the fifth day we walked from Baltali to the main road head at Khopasi
village where we picked up our vehicle for the short drive to Panauti. This is a Newari town with many temples including Indreswor one of the oldest
in Nepal. This is a fascinating town to walk around although the temples are in
a poorer condition than the better known Newari town of Bhaktapur.

Photo: Indreswor temple in Panauti

After lunch
we continued our drive along a road climbing up towards Lakuri
Bhanjang. We stay at the wonderfully situated Summit Village Lodge (operated by
same company that runs lodges as used in our Everest Luxury Lodge trek). The whole of Kathmandu is spread out far below and the Himalayan views can
be seen rising to the north above the city. We were lucky to see a deep orange sunset in the sky that
evening.

Photo: Summit Village Lodge at Lakuri Bhanjang

Photo: sunset from Summit Village Lodge at Lakuri Bhanjang

On the sixth day we walked downhill to Bhaktapur where
we stayed at Hotel Heritage located only a short walk from Durbar Square. This is one of three Durbar Squares in the
Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, all of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. If you are visiting Kathmandu it is well worth staying in Bhaktapur for a night or two as after mid afternoon the places is much quieter when the tour groups go back to their hotels in Kathmandu.

Photo: Nyatapola temple in Bhaktapur

Since I walked this trail in December 2012 we have now had five groups successfully complete this trek and we have received very positive feedback as copied below:

“I only have good feedback for you regarding the tour. Everything worked out very well for us. The length of the tour was just nice, not too short and not too long. The sights and scenery we got to see were awesome. I was also impressed with the hotels/resorts we stayed in. I must mention Lakpa Sherpa who was an amazing guide. He really took good care of us. Overall I'm very pleased I joined the tour and I have to say I had a really wonderful time. I have and will be recommending The Mountain Company to my friends who are interested in making a trip to Nepal. Thank you!”June Koh (Malaysia)

“Yes we got back safely having had a really good trip, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was what we wanted - a 'walking holiday'. We loved walking through the villages etc. and staying at contrasting places. The weather was wonderful and of course the views were amazing. We never met any other 'walkers' which was a real bonus. We think that this a suitable holiday/trek for reasonably fit people of our age group (Late 60's). I hope that this feedback is of use to you, and we would recommend this trip to others.” Keir and Ruth Woodward (UK)

If you are interested in joining our Luxury Kathmandu Valley trek on one of our fixed dates departures or on a private trip then please get in touch with us. It is worth pointing out we can tailor this itinerary if you would like to stay in different hotels or prefer to spend a few extra nights along the way.